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Reviews
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014)
A truly masterpiece
This is truly a masterpiece produced by Ken Burns. As one of the historians in the series has said, you cannot always expect people like them (the three Roosevelts) to appear in the history. What strikes me the most is that, for those great leaders in human history, their desire for power or fame has never overshadowed their consciences, sense of justice, and responsibility to their citizens or the wider world. The courage, determination to move on and confront with the obstacles from life directly, and the character to make the right judgement in adversity, shapes their figure, and make me feel heart-moving and rethink what life I really want to live, and how to live it 'widely and fully'. Remember, never turn your back to your life, and face it with no fear.
Inception (2010)
A trick that deceives all of us
Nolan likes to use a trick to connect all dots in the movie: just look at what he has done in 'The Prestige'. Inception is not exception, but it has demonstrated his talent in manipulating our attention and persuade us to believe in his story. There are 6 layers of world, and the beginning is not connected to the ending (though they share the same setting). I like all the presumption that Norlan depicts. Thriller with imaginary elements usually fails to convince the movie audiences as their logic cannot be self-consistent. But Inception achieves it quite well. Through the movie we try to figure out whether they have succeeded or not, and in the end the trick of tentom reminds us of the theme-when the idea is incepted, it is the most parasite and cannot be wiped out. This ending deserves the most compliment.
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Remarkable movie with a typical narrative structure
Watching this movie in 2023 means the mould of narrative cannot be unexpected to me. However, thanks to the stellar cast, L. A. Confidential still attracts my attention for 2 hours. It begins by a mass shooting, and presents the appearing success of the cops. Then, all three characters, Guy Pearce standing for political smart, Kevin Spacey representing wicked intelligence and Russell Crowe for directness, found the weird cues of the case from various routes. They try to dig it further, but Kevin died unfortunately (his performance is second-to-none and I need to say his personality in this movie is the most multi-dimensioned). Russel decides to work with Guy and investigate the conspiracy shrouding the L. A. Police Department.
The story is not novel for me, but the mature pace of narratives and the outstanding interaction among those handsome guys still make it an artifact. It also remains some features of the Hollywood movies in the golden times, for instance, the hard-core images of Kim Basinger's thigh and chest. As per this point, it does not transcend the age. But it is still good. Perhaps a good movie is like a good dish-it does not need to be stunning or dazzling in all aspects, but it is hard to pick out any blemish.
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Good movie and thought-provoking theme...
When I turned off the website, I just thought that the theme did not make sense. Tbh I come from a country where history and culture support capital punishment strongly. So I just cannot understand why they are so determined to object capital punishment even they have to sacrifice their lives. I was also wondering why they have the power to ruin other people's normal life (the journalists surely cannot go back to their normal life after all this) merely to advocate their own ideas. And the last concern is more of pragmatic. Perhaps they have far more better way to raise public awareness thant losing lives ...
But after a little reflection, I now realize that the theme is deeper than the first impression it left to me. It's about how to view our life, and how to value other's lives. The coin has two sides: you have the choice to determine your own life, but you have no choice to decide other's lives. During the movie, David tries to tell his students that the fundamental measurement of one's life is to see whether he values other people's lives or not, but it does not concern how you value your own life. Here is the answer to one's notion that 'terminating your life to call for respect of lives is contradictory.' No one can decide other people's lives, but you have the utmost freedom to decide your own life. They value other's lives, and that makes their lives meaningful. At the end of the day, they make the choice to terminate their own lives, because they value other's lives more than theirs. Or perhaps we can also argue that they do not devalue their own lives, as they want to give it a more meaningful ending rather than being defeated by boring things. I love this philosophical antithesis. Dying for some transmundane goals is not shameless, especially you are aiming to save more people's lives. Once you have convince yourself that it makes your life more meaningful, I do not think it is wrong. Again, enjoy your freedom in your own life, but never try to decide other people's life. That is also anti-crime-I think a real abolitionist should also object murder or any similar crimes.